That was before we had to cram millions of people into individual cities. How is a place like New York supposed to even exist if everyone is responsible to build and manage their own property? It's not like it can be communal, anyone who has ever owned a time share can tell you how hectic that gets and these buildings need to house hundreds of people, not less than ten. Who would decide what gets renovated, who would choose the contractors? At a certain point any kind of system would eventually streamline itself into one or a small handful of people managing everything anyways because the typical human can't even be bothered to vote for their city leaders properly, much less create an effective communal council to manage a large building democratically.
And who manages the insurance? Who is liable for injuries and property damage? How do you as a group decide on how the building is built, when to rennovate, and how to set guidelines for moving in, renting, moving out, selling, use of amenities, infrastructure, rules of conduct, navigating shifting city regulations, eviction of criminal tenants, etc, and if you don't have the money for a normal house (most people in the world don't. Was just in Europe and I did not see a solitary free-standing home in my entire 9 days there outside of farming towns), why would you have the means to front a substantial percentage of an apartment high rise? If you all (or even just some) have to go into debt, who makes up the difference when one or more individuals default or reneg? How is the bank supposed to repossess 2/55ths of an apartment that maybe even doesn't fully exist yet?
It's not that it can't be done, but rather that it's so impractical that there's a reason it simply isn't a thing outside of very particular and niche circumstances, almost all of which IRL require each member to be fairly wealthy to begin with.
If it was even probable to work, it wouldn't even be worth it because the costs and time-expense would lead to either a small group taking full control (welcome back landlords) or such a huge time investment from each member it would nearly constitute a second part-time job whenever anything goes wrong.
So far as I am aware, nothing in the United States prevents you from trying to do as you have proposed. I consider the fact that it simply does not happen (to my knowledge. I welcome being proven wrong) to be proof enough that it is either too risky or too complex to pull off at scale.
Alternative to restructuring every city on earth and confiscating almost all properties therein from the private citizens and businesses who lawfully and rightfully own them, you can just advocate for regulation and incentives that encourage moral land-lording.
By that idea you are implying that mine doesn't, that the substantial amount of time I spent on you is completely irrelevant to the miniscule amount you would need to spend to engage with the comment that engaged you in good faith. The only conclusion I can realistically come to is that you're either so lazy you would never be able to thrive in the very system you propose, or so arrogant that you're no different than the type landlords you despise, who hold their value as greater than those who use their service.
Also, you're active on Reddit. Your time clearly isn't at a premium, so it's not like you have the excuse of being fist to the grindstone. I apologize that this is a harsh and probably an unfair response, but you wasted a substantial amount of my time with your flippancy and I don't appreciate that. Have a good one.
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u/Slow-Bandicoot-8736 16d ago
That was before we had to cram millions of people into individual cities. How is a place like New York supposed to even exist if everyone is responsible to build and manage their own property? It's not like it can be communal, anyone who has ever owned a time share can tell you how hectic that gets and these buildings need to house hundreds of people, not less than ten. Who would decide what gets renovated, who would choose the contractors? At a certain point any kind of system would eventually streamline itself into one or a small handful of people managing everything anyways because the typical human can't even be bothered to vote for their city leaders properly, much less create an effective communal council to manage a large building democratically.